


Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, but bears it out even to the edge of doom

by orphan_account



Category: Captain Marvel (2019)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Alternate Universe - The Time Traveler's Wife Fusion, Cussing, F/F, Slow Burn, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-24
Updated: 2019-03-30
Packaged: 2019-11-29 01:06:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18216116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: A MariaCarol Time Traveler's wife AU





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is based off the movie, but will definitely have a happier ending. You don't need knowledge of the Time Traveler's wife to read.

The first time Maria meets Carol, she is 6 years old. 6 years and 7 months to be precise. It’s a beautiful summer day, and Maria has decided to eat lunch in the meadow near her house. She is laying down her picnic blanket when she hears a rustling sound and someone muttering. Out of the corner of her eye she sees some leaves fall off a bush. 

 

“Who’s there?” Maria calls out. She’s pretty sure one of her friends is trying to prank her. Whoever’s in the bush doesn’t answer, so Maria throws her shoe at them.

 

“Ouch! Don’t throw things.” The person doesn’t sound like one of Maria’s friends. In fact, they sound like an adult.

 

“Who are you? I’m getting my mom.” Maria gets up to leave.

 

“No, please don’t do that Maria.” She freezes at that. 

 

“How do you know my name?”

 

After a short pause the voice responds. “I’ll explain in a minute, just… hand me that picnic blanket will you?”

 

Maria is confused but does as requested. The person in the bush takes the blanket and steps out a moment later. To Maria’s confusion, this mysterious individual reveals themself to be a completely normal looking woman. She has shoulder length blonde hair and light brown eyes. She’s covering herself with the blanket Maria gave her. If Maria had to guess this lady’s age, she’d say the woman is probably around 30.

 

Maria shakes her head to clear her thoughts. She needs to figure out how this absolute stranger knows her name.

 

“Who are you? And how do you know me?”

 

The woman seems hesitant to respond, but she does.

 

“My name is Carol and I’m a time traveler. I’m from the future, that’s how I know you.”

 

“Prove it.” Maria says. “Prove that you’re a time traveler.”

 

This time Carol replies immediately. “Your name is Maria Rambeau. You were born in 1987. You don’t have any siblings, but you do have a pet fish named Stripe. And more than anything else, you want to be a pilot. You’ve wanted to be one for what seems like forever.”

 

Maria is surprised but makes sure not to show it. Her dad always says that you should never let anyone know if they’ve caught you off guard. “So you know things, that doesn’t prove that you’re a time traveler.”

 

Maria half expects Carol to shake her fist and yell “you caught me” like a Scooby Doo villain. Instead, Carol just smiles widely and says something under her breath that sounds like “smart girl.”

 

“This weekend, your parents are gonna surprise you by taking you to an airshow.” 

 

“But I won’t know if it’s true until it happens.” Maria pouts. Secretly she’s hoping it’s true, she loves seeing different kinds of planes. She has miniature versions of her favorite ones hanging in her room.

 

“It will happen.” Carol seems sure of this. “And I’ll tell you what, I’ll be back in this meadow next Thursday at 4:30. So if you want to see me again, you know where to look. But if you do, I have one request. Make sure to bring clothes. Whatever your mom won’t notice is missing.”

 

After saying this, Carol disappears into thin air. The blanket drops to the ground and Maria smiles.


	2. Chapter 2

By the time Maria is 12, Carol has visited her a total of 36 times. Maria knows it’s exactly 36, because she writes about each visit in her diary. She doesn’t let anyone read her diary, not even her parents. She’s worried people would think she’s making it all up. Also, a small part of Maria is scared that if she tells anyone about Carol, the visits will stop. Carol will disappear for good. Maria knows that thinking this way is ridiculous, but even so, she keeps Carol and the visits to herself.   
  


Maria and Carol don’t always spend their time together in the meadow. Sometimes they go to a museum, or to see a movie, or even ice skating. Maria will tell Carol about everything that happens in her life. Stories about how she punched a classmate for pulling her hair, and how she got the highest grade in her class on a test.

 

Carol will smile and listen to these tales. She’ll laugh and wince and ask questions at the right parts, but she’ll never return the favor by sharing her own stories. Every time Maria asks her a question about herself, Carol just quickly changes the subject. After a while, Maria learned to not ask.

 

The one thing Maria knows for sure about Carol is that she’s married. Maria knows that Carol hadn’t meant to tell her. She’d just been having an off day or something, and she’d let it slip.

 

Carol had arrived at the meadow one day like she’d said she would. Maria was laying out the picnic blanket while Carol put on the white sundress that Maria had managed to sneak away from her mom. When Carol finally trampled out of the bushes, Maria noticed that she had a frustrated expression on her face.

 

“What’s wrong?” Maria asked as she unpacked the food in her basket. She’d made two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and managed to smuggle some Coca Cola cans out of the kitchen.

 

“Oh it’s nothing.” At that moment Carol looked a million miles away. “It’s just, I really miss my wife.”

 

“Your- your wife.” Maria felt faint. “So that means you’re married.”

 

“Yeah. I love her a lot. She’s the light of my life. She-” Carol abruptly stopped talking, she must have noticed the twisted expression on Maria’s face.

 

“Hey, is everything ok?” Carol spoke in a soft tone.

 

“Yeah, everything’s fine. I just,” Maria paused for a second before continuing, ‘I thought that we’d end up married someday.” And she had. Maria had thought that her and Carol getting married was an inevitably. Not a dream or a fantasy, just a fact. Like 1+1 being equal to 2 and Brussels sprouts being disgusting. 

 

Carol just smiled at Maria and changed the subject to Maria’s school. On autopilot, Maria talked about what she was learning in math. On the inside, Maria felt like her heart was breaking.

 

After Carol had disappeared again, ‘back to her wife’ Maria thought bitterly, Maria ran home and grabbed her diary from where she’d hidden it under her bed. She grabbed a black marker and scribbled out all the pictures she’d drawn of her and Carol, dressed in white wedding dresses, walking down an aisle. Carol was married, and Maria felt worse than she had the summer she’d fallen out of a tree and broken her arm.

 

The next time Carol came to visit, Maria had moodily asked her about her wife. Carol had just looked confused before politely saying, “Maria, I’m not married. Are you ok? Do you have a fever or something?”

 

“Carol, don’t play with me.” Maria was angry now. “You told me that you were married the last time you visited.” 

 

The confused expression evaporated from Carol’s face. “Oh I think I see what’s going on. How do I explain…” She scrunched up her nose the way she did when she was thinking. Maria was determined not to find that cute. “So for you, you experience time like it’s a straight line. One day after another. And I’m guessing you’ve assumed that I do too, right?”

 

Maria slowly nodded her head. She wasn’t mad anymore, just confused.

 

“Ok so, you’re sorta right. I personally experience time in a straight line, but when I travel it’s different. I travel to random points in time, and to random points in your life. I don’t do this in any set order. So that means that each time you meet me, you’re actually meeting me at different points in my life. So you’re not meeting me linearly. Does that make sense?”

 

It didn’t really make sense, but Maria nodded anyways. Carol seemed to see through this and sighed. “You’ll understand later.” 

 

Maria contemplated what Carol’s told her for around two weeks before gaining a semi understanding. Suddenly some of the things that happened during the visits made a lot more sense. Why Carol sometimes remembered what Maria told her and sometimes didn’t, why Carol’s hair length was constantly changing, and why Carol seemed to have selective memory regarding her wife.

 

These days, Maria spends a lot of time thinking about Carol and waiting for her next visit. Even so, Maria is a 12 year old and has a life outside of Carol. She spends a lot of time in the library reading up on aviation. Over time her interest in planes has not waned, instead it’s only grown. She’s even thinking of joining the Air Force when she grows up. Maria is at the top of her class in both Science and Math. And she has a group of friends. 

 

Even when excluding Carol, Maria has a lot of people she regularly hangs out with. Her five closest friends are Nick Fury, James Rhodes, Talos, Valkyrie, and Peggy Carter.

 

Nick Fury is a boy in Maria’s Science Class. He goes by Fury and will glare at anyone who tries to call him anything else. He wears a fake eyepatch and somehow manages to not look absolutely ridiculous. He’s gruff, threatening, and looks like he could kill you if he so chose. However, he is also a cat person, and will only eat a sandwich if it’s been cut diagonally. Fury and Maria became close when she kicked Alexander Pierce for trying to steal Fury’s video game.

 

James Rhodes (Rhodey) and Maria bonded quickly over their shared love of airplanes. He is one of the kindest and most patient people Maria has ever met. He never gets mad or even frustrated. He’s already set on going to MIT, and Maria knows he’ll get in. He’s super smart. Rhodey’s parents have allowed him to use the garage as a lab, and he’s always using it to invent something or the other. 

 

Talos had just transferred to Maria’s school this year. Nobody knows his last name or where he transferred from. Maria stumbled upon him reading in the library one day. She’d never seen him with any friends in the entire time he’d been at the school. She’d thought it must be awfully lonely not to have anybody to talk to, so she decided to introduce herself. Soon they were thick as thieves. Talos told Maria about how at his old school he was bullied relentlessly. How all his friends turned on him. How he had to move because of it. Maria felt for him, and she vowed to make sure he never felt that alone again.

 

Valkyrie is four years older than Maria, and one of the most popular girls in the school. Maria has no idea how they’re friends. One day Valkyrie just sat down next to Maria at lunch and started chatting like they had known each other forever. Valkyrie’s first name is Brunnhilde, but no one dares to call her that. Not even her boyfriend, Thor. She plays lacrosse and mostly hangs out with the older kids. She also loves ghost hunting for some reason, and she often drags Maria along to “haunted” locations. Valkyrie is basically Maria’s role model.

 

Peggy Carter is a year younger than Valkyrie. She’s Maria’s neighbor and occasional tutor. Maria regards Peggy as a friend because Peggy’s always there for her. When Maria was sad over not getting into a flying program, Peggy came over with ice cream and some cheesy movies to cheer Maria up. Along with being kind, Peggy is also super awesome in general. When a guy tried to catcall her, she calmly turned around and decked him. No one tried after that.

 

Maria doesn’t tell her friends about Carol. Part of her wants to, but a bigger part of her wants to keep Carol a secret for as long as possible. 

 

So Maria lives two lives. One with her friends, her studies, her family, and her fish. And one with Carol. At least she tries and mostly succeeds. Until the day her lives crash together in the weirdest possible way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From now on, I'll be posting a new chapter every Sunday


	3. Chapter 3

_ [The video starts in an abandoned looking building. The camera slowly pans around the room. Crumbling windows and walls are shown. On one of the walls, red paint spells out the words “get out while you still can.” The camera view switches and focuses on a teenage girl. The girl has black hair tied up in a ponytail, and markings on her face. She opens her mouth to speak.] _

 

**_Valkyrie:_ ** _ Hey everyone! Welcome to the newest installment of Ghosted, a ghost hunting show starring the one and only Valkyrie. Today is a special day. This will be my last episode before I go to college. And in case you haven’t heard, I’ve been accepted into the prestigious Asgard University. So anyways, since this is my last video for a while, it’s going to be a special one. I’ve brought in as much of the gang as I could manage. Say hi everyone. _

 

_ [The camera view switches again and pans over a group of people. There are five people in the group. There is a boy with a fake eyepatch who is holding a middle finger up to the camera. The boy next to him seems to be fidgeting with some small device. Next to him is a boy who has an almost green complexion. Across from this boy, a girl with an intricate braided hairstyle is flipping through a book. And next to her is a girl who is moving a small model airplane back and forth.] _

 

**_Valkyrie:_ ** _ For the uninitiated, that was Fury, Rhodey, Talos, Peggy, and Maria.  _

 

_ [Valkyrie turns her head slightly to face the group.] _

 

**_Valkyrie:_ ** _ Fury, I saw you flip me off. I’m definitely going to edit that out. Maybe I’ll even edit a smile on your face. It would improve your looks. _

 

**_Fury:_ ** _ Fuck you! _

 

_ [Valkyrie turns back to the camera.] _

 

**_Valkyrie:_ ** _ Thor and Loki couldn’t make it, their dad made them go to some dinner for the company. And Bruce is holed up in his lab and ignoring all of my texts, the nerd. So it’s almost the whole squad. Today we’re visiting the Old Creek Mill Mansion. Rumor has it that in 1918, A girl by the name of Alicia Wolster was brutally murdered in this house. After her death, her ghost remained in the house and has since driven out every family that has tried to move in. The building was officially condemned in 1954. Today we’re here to figure out if the rumors may actually contain fact. _

 

**_Fury:_ ** _ Ooh, I’m terrified. _

 

**_Valkyrie:_ ** _ You asshole. I can’t wait until the ghost kills you. _

 

**_Talos:_ ** _ Hey don’t joke about that, it’s not funny. _

 

**_Valkyrie:_ ** _ Sorry Tal. _

 

**_Peggy:_ ** _ Seriously Valkyrie, why are we here? I thought you wanted to do something special for your last episode, and this place doesn’t seem any more “haunted” than any other places we’ve visited. _

 

**_Valkyrie:_ ** _ I don’t know, I have a gut feeling about this place. I just know something is going to happen. _

 

_ [There’s a moment of silence before something explodes off screen. The camera shifts to Rhodey, who is sitting with the remains of his device.] _

 

**_Rhodey:_ ** _ Heh, sorry guys. I have no idea how that happened. Ignore me. Carry on. _

 

**_Valkyrie:_ ** _ Speaking of ignoring. Maria, you’ve been suspiciously quiet. Normally you’d have chimed in with some remark about the science of ghosts. _

 

**_Maria:_ ** _ Wha- oh, I’m fine. I just miss Car… Cartons of milk. Yep that’s what I meant to say. I get fussy when I don’t have my daily milk carton. _

 

**_Valkyrie:_ ** _ I don’t believe you for one second, but I’ll drop this for now. _

 

**_Maria:_ ** _ Thanks Val. _

 

**_Talos:_ ** _ Wait guys did you hear that? _

 

**_Peggy:_ ** _ Hear what? _

 

**_Talos:_ ** _ It was a thumping noise. Like something heavy fell to the ground. _

 

**_Rhodey:_ ** _ I didn’t hear anything. _

 

**_Fury:_ ** _ Same. _

 

**_Maria:_ ** _ Are you sure you heard something? Maybe this house is just freaking you out. _

 

**_Talos:_ ** _ Guys I’m telling you! There was a thumping noise. All of you were probably just too distracted to hear it. _

 

**_Fury:_ ** _ I’ll show you distracted. _

 

**_Valkyrie:_ ** _ Both of you stop it! This could be my chance to finally catch a ghost on video. _

 

**_Woman:_ ** _ Well, sorry to disappoint, but I’m not a ghost. However, I am a time traveler. _

 

_ [The camera focuses on a woman standing near the entrance to the room. She has blond hair and brown eyes. She is also using a thin sheet to cover her body. She has an amused expression on her face.] _

 

**_Maria_ ** _ : Carol!  _

 

_ [Maria gets up to greet Carol but stops halfway. She turns around to face her group of friends.] _

 

**_Maria:_ ** _ Shit… Everyone this is Carol, my time traveling friend from the future. _

 

_ [Carol waves. Nobody speaks for the next two minutes.] _

 

**_Fury:_ ** _ Ha! Nice prank. You really had me for a bit there. _

 

**_Maria:_ ** _ No, I’m serious. _

 

**_Fury:_ ** _ Sure you are. Just like you were serious about finding a cat that needed saving at the bottom of the school dumpster.  _

 

**_Maria:_ ** _ I’m not joking Fury! _

 

**_Fury:_ ** _ Neither am I. I smelled like garbage for two weeks. _

 

**_Maria:_ ** _ Please, I’m telling the truth. I swear. _

 

**_Fury:_ ** _...I’d like to believe you, but can you prove that you’re telling the truth? _

 

**_Maria:_ ** _ Well um… _

 

**_Carol:_ ** _ You’ll get your proof soon enough. By the way, I like your eyepatch. Cool foreshadowing. _

 

**_Valkyrie:_ ** _ So to be clear, there’s no ghost here? No Alicia? _

 

**_Carol:_ ** _ Well I didn’t say there aren’t any ghosts in this house, I just said I’m not one of them. _

 

**_Talos:_ ** _ If you’re really from the future, can you tell me if I’ll ever see my girlfriend again. I had to leave her when I moved schools. We still keep in contact over AIM, but it’s not the same. You know? _

 

**_Carol:_ ** _ I can’t spoil any future details for you, but I will let you know that she misses you as much as you miss her. _

 

_ [Suddenly a loud noise is heard off screen. The camera moves to focus on Rhodey who seems wholly absorbed in whatever he’s trying to build. The noise seems to have come from a wrench being dropped on the floor. It is not apparent where Rhodey could have acquired the tool. His pockets are too small to carry it, and he did not bring a bag.] _

 

**_Peggy:_ ** _ Rhodey, have you been paying attention to anything that’s happened? _

 

**_Rhodey:_ ** _ No… did Valkyrie finally find a ghost? _

 

**_Valkyrie:_ ** _ Even better, I found a time traveler. Well technically Maria found her and has been keeping her a secret from us this whole time. Speaking of which, Maria would you care to enlighten us on how you know this woman? _

 

_ [The camera shifts back to Maria. She has a nervous expression on her face and is fidgeting with her model airplane.] _

 

**_Maria:_ ** _ Alright, I guess I should tell you guys. So I met Carol for the first time when I was six, and she told me she was a time traveler. After that, she just kept visiting me. I wanted to tell you guys, but I wasn’t sure if it you’d believe me. Also, I was fine keeping things in my life separate. I didn’t know what would happen if they mixed, and I guess I was scared the end result would be bad. But I really am sorry for not sharing this with all of you sooner. Can you forgive me? _

 

**_Peggy:_ ** _ Of course we can! It’s completely understandable. Right everyone? _

 

**_Fury:_ ** _ Yeah, yeah. _

 

**_Talos:_ ** _ There’s nothing that needs forgiving _

 

**_Valkyrie:_ ** _ Everything’s fine Maria. I was just giving you a hard time. _

 

**_Peggy:_ ** _ Rhodey? _

 

**_Rhodey:_ ** _ You are absolutely forgiven Maria. Time travel really is a fascinating concept, it involves so many unknowns. Carol, do you have any control over your traveling?   _

 

**_Carol:_ ** _ Nope, it happens randomly and without warning. It doesn’t even really have any specific triggers. One second I’ll be doing the laundry, and the next I’ll be in the middle of the French Revolution. And as a fun bonus, I don’t even get to bring my clothes along. Hence this probably plague ridden sheet I found on the ground. _

 

**_Maria:_ ** _ Oh no, I should have offered. Would you like to borrow some of my clothes? I’m basically as tall as you are at this point. _

 

**_Carol:_ ** _ Nah, it’s alright. I’ll be going soon anyways. Valkyrie, obviously you can’t actually post this unless you want SHIELD showing up at your door. _

 

**_Valkyrie:_ ** _ What’s SHIELD? _

 

**_Carol:_ ** _ Don’t worry about it. Just make sure not to share the video with anyone not currently in this room. But you don’t have to delete it, you can save it for posterity if you want. _

 

**_Valkyrie:_ ** _...Ok. _

 

**_Carol:_ ** _ And Maria, the next time you see me will be in May. Sometime around Memorial Day. So be prepared! _

 

_ [Carol turns to address the group.] _

 

**_Carol:_ ** _ Alright everyone, I have time for one last question. So make it count. _

 

**_Rhodey:_ ** _ You said you have no control over your traveling. If it really is completely random, why do you visit Maria so often? _

 

**_Carol:_ ** _ Ooh, that’s a good one. When I’m traveling, I find myself drawn to big events and important people. And Maria is a very important person. Especially to me.  _

 

_ [Maria blushes. Carol slowly fades away. The sheet she was using to cover herself falls to the ground. There is silence for a few moments.] _

 

**_Talos:_ ** _ So, that happened. _

 

**_Fury:_ ** _ Way to state the obvious. _

 

**_Talos:_ ** _ You wanna go mate? _

 

**_Peggy:_ ** _ Settle down, settle down. _

 

_ [Valkyrie stands up and motions to everyone else.] _

 

**_Valkyrie:_ ** _ Why are you all just standing around? I’ll have to completely reshoot the episode now. Quick! Everyone get back to where you were at the start of the show. _

 

_ [Video ended.] _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's not mentioned in the story, but the reason Fury and Talos have a sort of rivalry is because Talos doesn't like cats.


End file.
